Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  The moment he finished his talking, he stretched his two arms open and his two arms suddenly gave off dazzling red light before honing on Ji Shanqing, who had zero mobility. After Ji Shanqing struggled to regain his composure, he stretched his legs and darted forward. He didn't dare run too fast or too slow, maintaining a speed at which the red light wouldn't lose track of him and give him enough time to retaliate should anything terrible happened. After a few steps of running, the red light that was chasing him suddenly became brighter. It lit half of the already-dark forest like a sunset.

  "Now!"

  Ji Shanqing growled inwardly. Then, he stopped hard and crouched down. The dazzling red light buzzed above his back, and as the glow whirred past him, it dimmed down.

  The tamer looked at his arm, and before he could come back from his confusion of how his attack would fail, he lifted his eyes to see that Ji Shanqing had changed his course to charge straight at him. Amassing all his strength, Ji Shanqing body slammed the tamer and knocked him down. The tamer cursed loudly before plunging into a flock of slaves behind him.

  Seeing how imm.a.t.u.r.e Ji Shanqing's combat technique was, all the other tamers became high in spirit and stampeded toward him. Panting, Ji Shanqing cursed mentally while prepared himself for the inevitable tough fight. That was when a sharp shriek suddenly burst out somewhere from the crowd.

  Similar to Ji Shanqing, all the tamers were stunned, and they paused their progression. Ji Shanqing darted his gaze across the clearing, and then he saw a stream of blood burst from the flock of slaves.

  "Kill them!" A hoarse female voice spread across the clearing. Her damaged vocal cord signified how much torture she had gone through, "Kill every last of them!"

  His gaze jumped back and forth between Lin Sanjiu and the skirmish not far away, Ji Shanqing didn't think much and quickly return to Lin Sanjiu's side. He grabbed her by her shoulder and shook her with all his might, "Wake up, Sis'! The two kids you're looking for might be over there!"

  Nevertheless, no matter how much he pushed and slapped her, Lin Sanjiu didn't show any sign of regaining her consciousness.

  With all kind of whizzing, whomping, and other unique sound effects released by abilities filled the air, the slaves covered the sky with blood as torn limbs occasionally flew out from the free-for-all. Compared to the tamers, who were only killed by the slaves due to an accident, the slaves were apparently on the losing side. Evidently, their bodies were just too weak for any large scale battle after they had been tormented for so long. The bloodl.u.s.t and adrenaline rush after successfully killing a tamer diminished as more and more of their companion fell to the clutches of death. As they began to flee, the tamers chased them and impaled them.

  Seeing this, even though the person his master was looking might be alive now, Ji Shanqing was certain that she or he wouldn't last any longer.

  Ji Shanqing looked around and realized that everybody was so occupied with the fight that they overlooked them. After he placed Lin Sanjiu down on the ground, he clenched his teeth and bolted into the battle royale.

  "Rena! Reno!" As he yelled those names, Ji Shanqing hoped that he didn't have them wrong. However, his voice was instantly overpowered by all kinds of other sounds the moment it escaped his mouth, making Ji Shanqing wonder if anybody heard his call. "Are you guys here? Your sister is looking for you!"

  As he zigzagged through the group of war-crazed people repeating the names, he searched for anybody that might match Lin Sanjiu's description. Suddenly, he lost his balance and fell to the ground, face first.

  Before he could find out the source that caused him to trip, he sensed something dangerous. He quickly covered his head and rolled to a side to avoid being crushed by the person in front of him. After that, Ji Shanqing took a breath and looked behind him in shock.

  A thin, bare-c.h.e.s.ted teenager with vicious stare stood there. Looking over the teenager's shoulder, Ji Shanqing found another girl standing behind him. Both of them looked very much alike with yellowish skin and cold glare.

  "Who are you?" the teenager asked. His expression was as stoic as a thousand-year rock, and his voice was husky as if he hadn't opened his mouth for a very long time.

  "You two are Rena and Reno?" Ji Shanqing quickly gets to his feet. As he raised his two arms above his head, he said, "Do you two know Lin Sanjiu? She is here for you guys, and she is just over there—"

  The two teenagers' expressions turned mild when the name "Lin Sanjiu" entered their ears. Ji Shanqing couldn't tell whether were they surprised or something else. However, before he could get deeper into his thought, the teenager in front of him changed his expression again. With a vicious face, he pulled Ji Shanqing by his collar and whispered into his ears, "Lead us there. Now!"

  The yellow-skinned, high-cheekboned young girl added another comment. Every word that slipped past her lips chilled Ji Shanqing to his core, "If we don't see her, we'll kill you."

  "Are they the two haughty and cheerful siblings Lin Sanjiu always talked about? They don't seem equipped with any of the traits as she described."

  He knew now wasn't the time to question anything and quickly led the siblings through the crowd of people who had been blinded by their bloodl.u.s.t. Like other slaves, both of the siblings were chained by layers of heavy shackles. With every step they took, a loud metal clank filled the air, signifying the heavy weight of the manacles, and because of that, their speed was much slower than his. Fortunately, when they finally arrived where Lin Sanjiu was, she was still there, safe and sound.

  She had also regained consciousness.

  Supporting herself with one arm, Lin Sanjiu struggled to stand up. When the sound of footsteps drifted into her ears, she raised her head only to see the group of people that fighting and the trio that was running towards her.

  The gloomy expression on Rena and Reno faces vanished at the sight of Lin Sanjiu. They picked up their speed, shortening the gap between them and Lin Sanjiu in seconds and threw themselves on the ground beside Lin Sanjiu along with their shackles.

  The young girl thrust herself into Lin Sanjiu's embrace. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed profusely.

  Warm breath, wet tears, rancid and dry hair: as Rena snuggled up to her, Lin Sanjiu still couldn't regain herself from the shock. After a few seconds, she picked up her wobbly hands and winced in pain at the movement. Nevertheless, she still placed her hand on Rena's back and patted her gently.

  Reno stood aside expressionlessly. His eyes were reddening, and he bit his lower lips so hard that it became white.

  "Alright, alright," Lin Sanjiu's voice sounded so wonderful yet exhausted. She spoke so faintly as if she was afraid that this was all a delusion and any loud or unwelcomed noises might shatter her dream. This was the first time Ji Shanqing saw such a tender, fond expression on Lin Sanjiu's face since they came out of the Starry Carnival Amus.e.m.e.nt Park. "I'm right here. Don't worry; everything will be fine from now on."

  As she spoke, she studied the siblings.

  The traces of torture remained clear on their bodies. Their bodies were covered with swollen needle holes, in varies sizes. Their countenances so languished that Lin Sanjiu almost couldn't recognize them at first glance. Despite that, the siblings still had their limbs, and that was what mattered the most.

  Without speaking a word, Ji Shanqing slowly walked up to the group.

  Hearing the sound, Lin Sanjiu crooked her head and offered him a faint, but genuinely grateful smile.

  Only then, Mrs. Manas heaved a long sigh of relief.

  Chapter 402 - Return

  When the free-for-all finally turned silent, the canyon was a scene of great carnage; many had been slain there. The moon-bleached broken limbs and pieces of corpses littered the area. M.o.a.ns and groans of pain and the sound of body grating across the ground drifted into the air sporadically before it was all swallowed into the night. The canyon continued to lay still and quiet.

  Half-collapsed, the monstrously large iron cage did not show any
sign of collapsing further, leaving only a dark shadow under the dimly lit stygian sky. Ji Shanqing, Rena and Reno helped to carry Lin Sanjiu into the iron cage.

  When they stepped into the camp again, the countenance of Rena and Reno went cold.

  "They must've gone through hell. It's no wonder that the siblings only opened themselves to Lin Sanjiu and exhibited hostility toward other people," muttered Ji Shanqing. He got his conjecture from comparing how the siblings treated him when they first time saw him and how they treated Lin Sanjiu.

  The size of the iron cage was already an eye-opener when looking from afar, but it was nothing compared to the view from inside; it wasn't even an overstatement calling it a masterpiece. The glade of the iron cage that occupied half of the canyon was vast, and the iron rods that formed into a dome overhead looked as if they could touch the moon. On top of that, the cage was so full of chains that even the air smelled metallic, but Ji Shanqing couldn't tell if the ironware or human blood was the source of the smell.

  "Come and sit here," Rena said as she oriented Li Sanjiu on the ground, "I'll go to have a look in the tamers' dormitory to see if I could find any drinkable water."

  Lin Sanjiu nodded as she didn't even have the energy to open her mouth. All she could manage was cast a gentle look at the siblings.

  "You can't drink from our water," Reno said. His gloomy facade finally cracked a bit, allowing a hint of anger to show beyond the mask, "Aside from raining, they only gave us water every ten days. Not only that, but they would mix in anything they could find to put in the water. Soil, dung, urine and seawater are the normal things here."

  Hearing this, even the non-human Ji Shanqing frowned.

  As if she was poked by a needle, Lin Sanjiu jerked up. However, she wasn't fit to make such a maneuver in her current condition, and as a result, a pang of pain spread straight into every nerve in her body, causing a cold sweat.

  She shook away the pain and grabbed Reno's hand tightly while looking into his eyes and said with a croaky voice, "I'm sorry for being late."

  Closing his eyes, Reno shook his head as he returned Lin Sanjiu's grip with the same strength.

  Meanwhile, Rena and Ji Shanqing had arrived at the tamers' dormitory. Surprisingly, Ji Shanqing found that the living condition of the tamers wasn't quite as bad as the slaves. Not only did they have clean water, but there were also pots, honey, and many other daily commodities such as rubbing alcohol and different kinds of medicines. As they began to rake and spade whatever useful commodities were in the dorm, Ji Shanqing realized that even though Rena was already free from her shackles, her movement was still pretty shaky. When he saw her fall God knew how many times, he went forward to offer his help by taking everything she had out of her arms. Then, he got some honey and mixed it with some water and salt to make Lin Sanjiu his self-proclaimed isotonic solution.

  Although the taste was awful, after gulping down a few bowls of it, Lin Sanjiu did regain some strength.

  Not only had some of her strength had returned, but her vision was also getting clearer. The moonlight was silvery white; the forest was green. It was hard for her to imagine that everything had only been red in her eyes a couple of hours ago.

  When she remembered how she pushed her way into the camp on her own, she was stunned. She couldn't believe that the berserker who ran amok and slain whoever blocked her path was her.

  After setting the bowl down, Lin Sanjiu looked at the siblings. She couldn't help but ask, "How do you two feel? Did... Did they hurt you?"

  The siblings looked at each other as if they somehow had detected the meaning in between Lin Sanjiu's word.

  The experience Lin Sanjiu had at the Garden of Eden had impacted her in more way that she could've ever imagined. It left her with such terrible post-traumatic stress that when she heard the word "slave," fear instantly took over her whole being. What's more, when she remembered that Rena was a frail little girl, the fear intensified.

  Luckily, the siblings shook their heads, and they opened their mouths and told Lin Sanjiu about their days at the Slave Training Camp.

  "I have to admit that they do have a knack in administering torture. Though they caused us great pain, they never inflicted any lasting physical damage on us," When Reno reached this point, he toned down his voice, and the corner of his lips curled into a sardonic smile, "However, don't look down on them. We have seen more than enough posthumans cast away their dignity and submit to them, following every one of their orders diligently like a dog just to earn a little recognition that is not even worth mentioning ..."

  The evolution of ability wasn't directly proportional to the strength of the willpower of the human. A person's mind could easily be bent with a small tragedy, so what could an organization like this camp that existed to crush a human's will bring to the victims who had been sent here? Just thinking about it was enough to make Lin Sanjiu shudder. The destructive power brought forth by the camp against a human being was purely unimaginable.

  "You guys don't know how worried I was before I arrived here. I was so afraid that you guys would become like that as well," Lin Sanjiu let out a sigh of relief. She was glad that she arrived before anything had gone wrong. Physical damage could be healed over time, but psychological scars couldn't. Once the mental system was broken, it could never be mended, and it would follow them like a shadow for life.

  Rena and Reno exchanged glances again. Their lips moved as if to say something, but they swallowed it back into their stomach at last. Reno turned back to Lin Sanjiu first and said, "Yes, we're glad you're here."

  "To be honest, I was surprised I could make it through to the center of the camp without much effort," Lin Sanjiu said as she frowned deeply. She leaned against a round metal pole stained with patches of dried blood as she spoke, "I didn't meet any strong fighters here. Even that CEO was much weaker than I thought… How did they manage to catch so many slaves?"

  Originally, she thought the Slave Training Camp must at least have some powerful figures of Puppeteer's or Hei Zeji's caliber to support them.

  Hearing this statement, Ji Shanqing couldn't help but think of the two tamers he had exchanged blows with. Though they were indeed much more powerful than him because the combat capabilities of the grand prize weren't very high, could he say that they were actually pretty weak?

  "Those supremos wouldn't bother to commit such sordid deed themselves. For the people that are considered as the top 30% of the total combat capabilities of Red Nautilus, there are plenty of people who are more than willing to do their chores for them. Besides, they don't necessarily have to soil their hands to catch the slaves. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and the reasons the slaves are being sold here are too many to count. Look, weren't Rena and I are the best example here?" Reno sneered as he gazed through the gap between the iron bars into the clearing outside of the cage, tightening his jaw.

  While Lin Sanjiu was hesitating whether or not to tell them the fate of Geran, Rena interjected to finish where Reno had left off, "When we arrived, the first thing they did was give us an injection. Our brain would go drunk, and we would respond to any question thrown at us."

  "The truth serum!" Lin Sanjiu instantly recognized that injection Rena had mentioned was the infamous psychoactive drug that had been the mainstay of spy flicks for decades even before the apocalypse arrived.

  Rena lowered down her eyes looking at the bruised veins on her arm as all the emotions suddenly vanished from her face, "I don't know, but it works like magic. Every slave that has been sent here after being given the shot would tell them whatever they wanted to know. Our Evolved Ability, Special Items we had, the date we are going to another world: everything. They would take away all our belongings and place a temper on our ability to keep us contained. As if that wasn't enough to make them feel secure, they would go as far as reinforcing the drug by giving us an injection every few days that would leave us incapacitated, both physically and mentally. And our willpower diminished with every passing sec
ond…

  "During our training, some of the visitors they called buyers would visit here occasionally to pick the slave they d.e.s.i.r.ed the most. However, if the slave failed to become a m.a.t.u.r.ed slaves when it was time for him to move to another world, the staff here would send him away… Don't ask me where or what happened to the slave because I'm as clueless as you are."

  Listening to the siblings' voices grow softer, Ji Shanqing quietly stood up and added a few branches to the flame under the pot that contained the boiling water.

  He could vaguely hear some sobbing or screeching along with some whispers drifting out occasionally from where Lin Sanjiu was, but he couldn't tell what their conversation was about. Nevertheless, when he saw that the trio was so into their conversation that they weren't paying any attention to him, he decided to take a stroll around the establishment.

  Aside from blood and some torn limbs, there were a few severely injured yet still alive slaves lying among the corpses on the ground, m.o.a.ning and groaning in pain.

  The grand prize was apparently didn't falter at the havoc. He walked out of the iron cage casually and went to a posthuman that was nearest to him.

  "We have some warm water inside," He tried to be as affectionate as he could, "Let me help you inside. Can you stand up?"

  The posthuman didn't move at all. He unglued his eyelids and rolled his eyes until Ji Shanqing swayed into his vision. Then, from his chapped lips, came two words, "Go away."

  He stared at Ji Shanqing, and it seemed like he was still confused as this time he roared, "I won't go into the cage again no matter what, you moron! You're just trying to trick me; I won't fall for it! Get the f*ck out of my face!"

  Ji Shanqing wasn't expecting this reaction. He raised his eyes to looked around, and he saw a slave-like posthuman poking his head out from behind a tree in the forest. After having a quick and short survey, the man disappeared into the woods again.